1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to aircraft control and, more particularly, to an improved aircraft control interface.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since the days of the Wright brothers, aircraft pilots have been faced with two major tasks. First, the pilot must accurately determine and constantly be aware of the current aircraft status, including location, direction, speed, altitude, attitude, and the rate of change of all of the above. Second, the pilot must be able to quickly and accurately control the aircraft to bring about a change in the above parameters to achieve a desired status of aircraft. In the early days of aviation, the first task was achieved by pilot awareness of visual and tactile stimulation. That is, the pilot looked around to see where he was, felt the wind pressure, and kept aware of acceleration forces pressing his body into the seat and around the cockpit. The second task was achieved by manually operating a mechanical pulley and lever arrangement to bend and pivot the horizontal and vertical control surfaces of the aircraft.
Initial developments to make the pilot's job easier included the provision of a magnetic compass to provide an indication of direction and pneumatic and mechanical instruments including altimeters, turn-and-bank indicators, etc., to provide indications of aircraft altitude and attitude. Subsequent refinements of these early instruments provided more accurate indications of location and altitude through the use of instruments and flight parameter displays such as gyro-compasses and flight directors. Various types of radio signals provided even more accurate determination of the aircraft location through the use of devices such as automatic direction finders (ADF), distance measuring equipment (DME), VORTAC, LORAN, and inertial reference systems (IRS).
Increases in aircraft performance over the years also increased the pilot's workload. To deal with this workload increase, various types of automation were introduced into the cockpit. One device, known as an automatic pilot (autopilot or AP) relieves the pilot of the necessity to provide continuous hands-on input to the control stick or yoke. Another type of automation provided in modern cockpits is the automatic throttle (auto-throttle, or AT). The auto-throttle will maintain a preset aircraft speed by varying the power setting on the engines as the aircraft climbs or descends.
A further refinement in cockpit automation occurred with the introduction of the flight management system (FMS). The FMS, in reality a type of specialized computer, includes a database of pre-stored navigation landmarks known as waypoints. A waypoint may either coincide with an existing ground landmark, such as an airport, or may represent an imaginary point in the sky where two radio signals intersect. The location of these waypoints in stored in the database. The pilot can enter a flight plan into the FMS by selecting a sequential series of waypoints through which the aircraft will travel.
Additional automation has been introduced into the cockpit through various types of automated systems and monitoring functions. Malfunctioning equipment or unsafe aircraft operating parameters will generate a variety of warning lights, audio signals, and even voice signals.
Although the present state of aircraft control systems has provided a vast improvement over the systems of previous eras, significant shortcomings still exist with respect to the goal of providing the safest possible aircraft operation. Many of these shortcomings relate to the vast proliferation of data which is supplied to the pilot and to the inefficient way in which this data is provided. For example, many cockpits have literally hundreds of warning lights scattered all over the cockpit. Furthermore, pilot input devices for specific functions are often dispersed in widely separated positions with insufficient thought given to pilot convenience. In addition, automated systems may provide increased convenience and efficiency in one area but increased pilot workload in another.
One method of coping with the vast amounts of information and procedures required to insure safety is the use of check lists. Each flight phase (power-up, take off, approach, landing, etc) has a set of required procedures which the pilot must methodically execute, either from a paper list or from a more elaborate format using computer stored lists. However, existing methods and apparatus for assisting a pilot with the multitude of check lists required by modern aircraft do not provide the necessary reliability with acceptable convenience.
In view of the above considerations, it is desirable to provide an improved flight information and control system which permit simplified check list management, reduced cost, reduced pilot workload, and improved safety.